Welcome to M.V Hospital for Diabetes, established by late Prof. M.Viswanathan, Doyen of Diabetology in India in 1954 as a general hospital. In 1971 it became a hospital exclusively for Diabetes care. It has, at present,100 beds for the treatment of diabetes and its complications.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Although genes may influence the development of type 2 diabetes, lifestyle factors such as excess weight, lack of exercise, an unhealthy diet, and smoking play a far greater role in the development of the condition.

Some research statistics.

Women who have a healthy weight (body mass index less than 25), a healthy diet, 30 minutes or more of exercise daily, and are non- smokers have 90 % less chance of developing diabetes.

Consuming a “Western” diet ( a lot of red meats and processed meats) along with lack of physical activity and excess weight, significantly increases the risk of Type 2 diabetes in men.

In the Diabetes Prevention Program on men and women with pre-diabetes, the ‘weight loss and exercise’ group showed 58 percent fewer cases of diabetes and the benefits continued even after the program ended!

Simple Steps to Lower Your Risk

Make a few Lifestyle changes. They can significantly lower the chances of developing Type 2 diabetes as well as lower the chances of developing heart disease and some cancers.

Control Your Weight

Excess weight is the single most important cause of Type 2 diabetes.

Are you overweight? Shed the excess weight because it increases the chances of developing Type 2 diabetes seven times over.

Obesity makes you 20 to 40 times more likely to develop diabetes than someone with a healthy weight.

If your weight is above the healthy-weight range, get rid of 7 to 10 percent of your current weight. It can reduce your chances of developing Type 2 diabetesby half.

Women who averaged two to three servings of whole grains a day were 30 percent less likely to have developed Type 2 diabetes than those who rarely ate whole grains.

Eating an extra 2 servings of whole grains a day decreased the risk of Type 2 diabetes by 21 percent.

What’s so special about whole grains?

The bran and fibre in whole grains make it more difficult for digestive enzymes to break down the starches into glucose. This leads to lower and slower increases in blood sugar and insulin, and a lower glycaemic index. Whole grains are also rich in essential vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals that may help reduce the risk of diabetes.

On the other hand, white bread, white rice, mashed potatoes, doughnuts, and many breakfast cereals have a high glycaemic index and glycaemic load. They cause continuous spikes in blood sugar and insulin levels, which in turn may lead to increased diabetes risk.

Researchers found that women and men who ate the most white rice—five or more servings a week—had a 17 percent higher risk of diabetes than those who ate white rice less than one time a month.

People who ate the most brown rice—two or more servings a week—had an 11 percent lower risk of diabetes than those who rarely ate brown rice.

Researchers estimate that using whole grains in place of some white rice could lower diabetes risk by 36 percent.

Avoid the sugary drinks, and choose water, coffee, or tea instead.

Just like refined grains, sugary drinks have a high glycaemic load, and drinking a lot of this can increase the risk of diabetes.

Women who drank one or more sugar-sweetened beverages per day had an 83 percent higher risk of Type 2 diabetes, compared to women who drank less.

For every additional 12-ounce serving of sugary beverage that people drank each day, their risk of Type 2 diabetes rose 25 percent.

Studies also suggest that fruit drinks - either fortified drinks or juices, are not the healthy choice that they are advertised to be.

Women who drank two or more servings of fruit drinks a day had a 31 percent higher risk of Type 2 diabetes, compared to women who drank less than one serving a month.

How do sugary drinks lead to this increased risk? Weight gain may be one reason.

However, weight gain caused by sugary drinks does not completely explain the increased diabetes risk. There is increasing evidence that sugary drinks can cause chronic inflammation, high triglycerides, decreased “good” (HDL) cholesterol, and increased insulin resistance, which are all risk factors for diabetes.

Drinking water is an excellent replacement.

Choose good fats instead of bad fats.

The type of fats present in the food you eat can also affect the development of diabetes.

Good fats, such as the polyunsaturated fats found in liquid vegetable oils, nuts, and seeds can help hold off Type 2 diabetes.

But beware of Trans fats or bad fats that are found in margarine, packaged baked goods, fried foods in most fast-food restaurants, and any product that has “partially hydrogenated vegetable oil”.

Polyunsaturated fats from fish also known as “long chain omega 3” fats, do not protect against diabetes, however there is much evidence that they help prevent heart disease.

If you already have diabetes, eating fish can help protect you against a heart attack or dying from heart disease.

Eating a lot of red and processed meats seems to trigger diabetes in people who are already at genetic risk.

The evidence is growing stronger that eating red meat (beef, pork, lamb) and processed red meat (bacon, hot dogs, deli meats) increases the risk of diabetes, even among people who consume only small amounts.

Researchers found that eating just one daily 3-ounce serving of red meat increased the risk of Type 2 diabetesby 20 percent.

Eating even smaller amounts of processed red meat each day—just two slices of bacon, or one hot dog—increased diabetes risk by 51 percent.

The good news: Replacing red meat or processed red meat with nuts, low-fat dairy, poultry, or fish, or for whole grains lowered diabetes risk by up to 35 percent. The maximum reductions in risk came from not having processed red meat at all.

Researchers feel that the high iron content of red meat could reduce the effectiveness of insulin or damage the cells that produce insulin .The high levels of sodium and nitrites in preservatives in processed red meats may also be culprits.

If You Smoke, Try to Quit

Smokers are roughly 50 percent more likely to develop diabetes than non-smokers, while heavy smokers are at an even higher risk.

About Me

Dr. Vijay Viswanathan, Managing Director, M.V. Hospital for Diabetes and Diabetes Research Centre, Royapuram, Chennai, India, a WHO Collaborating Centre for Education, Research and Training in Diabetes.
Head of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Research, Education and Training in Diabetes.
MD in Internal Medicine and was awarded Gold medal in final MD examination.
Awarded Ph.D. in Medicine by Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University, Madras on the study of Diabetic Nephropathy in Type 2 Diabetes.
Has published over 150 original articles in peer reviewed International and National journals especially on Diabetic kidney diseases and Prevention of foot Amputation in Diabetes.
Organized 5 International Conferences on diabetic foot.